新编简明英语语言学教程 何兆熊 笔记和习题

1、Chapter 5 Semanticsn Semantics-the study of language meaning.n Semantics is defined as the study of meaning. However, it is not the only linguistic discipline that studies meaning.n Semantics answers the question “what does this sentence mean”. In other words, it is the analysis of conventional mean

2、ings in words and sentences out of context.n Meaning is central to the study of communication.n Classification of lexical meanings. Here are G. Leechs seven types of meaning. ( British linguist)n 1. Conceptual meaning (also called denotative or cognitive meaning) is the essential and inextricable pa

3、rt of what language is, and is widely regarded as the central factor in verbal communication. It means that the meaning of words may be discussed in terms of what they denote or refer to. n 2. Connotative meaning the communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, embraces the

4、properties of the referent, peripheraln 3. Social meaning (stylistic meaning) what is conveyed about the social circumstances of the use of a linguistic expressionn 4. Affective meaning (affected meaning) what is communicated of the feeling or attitude of the speaker/writer towards what is referred

5、ton 5. Reflected meaning what is communicated through association with another sense of the same expressionn Taboosn 6. Collocative meaning the associated meaning a word acquires in line with the meaning of words which tend to co-occur with itn (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 can be together called associative meani

6、ng meaning that hinges on referential meaning, less stable, more culture-specific )7. Thematic meaningwhat is communicated by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.Yang Xianyi and Gladys YangJolyHawkes and MinfordGo home On my way backBegin my journeyPass awayBe no

7、 moreDead DeathThe breath is just gone out of the bodyDeath Has goneHer spirit has retiredBe taken from us Depart this worldDepart this lifeGone GoneBe no more Deathn What is meaning?- Scholars under different scientific backgrounds have different understandings of language meaning. Some views conce

8、rning the study of meaning n Naming theory (Plato) n The conceptualist view n Contextualism (Bloomfield) n Behaviorism Naming theory (Plato): Words are names or labels for things.The linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they

9、stand for; words are just names or labels for thingsn Limitations: 1) Applicable to nouns only. 2) There are nouns which denote things that do not exist in the real world, e.g. ghost, dragon, unicorn, phenix 3) There are nouns that do not refer to physical objects but abstract notions, e.g. joy, imp

10、ulse, hatredThe conceptualist viewn The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.e. between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind. Ogden and

11、Richards: semantic triangleThought/reference concept or notion, mental imageWords/phrases/sentencesSymbol/Form (words), signifier Referent (signified, real object, reality) n The symbol or form refers to the linguistic elements (words and phrases);n The referent refers to the object in the world of

12、experience;n Thought or reference refers to concept.n The symbol or a word signifies things by virtue of the concept associated with the form of the word in the minds of the speaker; and the concept looked at from this point of view is the meaning of the word. The contextualism John FirthThe situati

13、onal context: in a particular spatiotemporal situationLinguistic context (co-text): the probability of a words co-occurrence or collocation with another wordn Meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, contextelements closely linked with language behavior. Two types of contexts are recogn

14、ized:n Situational context: spatiotemporal situationn Linguistic context: the probability of a words co-occurrence or collocation.n For example, “black” in black hair & black coffee, or black sheep differs in meaning; “The president of the United States” can mean either the president or presidency i

15、n different situation.Behaviorism Bloomfield based on contextualist viewBehaviorists define meaning of a language form as the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearern Behaviorists attempted to define meaning as “the situation in which the speaker utters

16、 it and the response it calls forth in the hearer”.n The story of Jack and Jill: Jill Jack S_r-s_R(the small letters r, sspeech)(the capitalized letter R, Spractical events)Lexical meaning n Sense and reference are both concerned with the study of word meaning. They are two related but different asp

17、ects of meaning. n Sense- is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are interested in. n Reference-what a linguistic form refer

18、s to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. n Linguistic expressions stand in a relation to the world. There are two aspects of meaning.n Reference is the relation by which a word picks out or identifies

19、an entity in the world. But the referential theory fails to account for certain kinds of linguistic expression.n Some words are meaningful, but they identify no entities in the real world, such as the words dragon, phoenix, unicorn, and mermaid.n It is not possible for some words to find referent in

20、 the world, such as the words but, and, of, however, the, etc.n Speakers of English understand the meaning of a round triangle although there is no such graph.n Sense is the relation by which words stand in human mind. It is mental representation, the association with something in the speakers or he

21、arers mind. The study of meaning from the perspective of sense is called the representational approach.Note:n Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations; on the other hand, there are also occasions, when linguistic forms with the same reference might

22、 differ in sense, e.g. the morning star and the evening star, rising sun in the morning and the sunset at dusk. Major sense relations n Synonymy, Antonymy, Polysemy, Homonymy, Hyponymy Synonymyn Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are calle

23、d synonyms. 1) Dialectal synonyms- synonyms used in different regional dialects, e.g. autumn - fall, biscuit - cracker, petrol gasoline，lift/elevator, flat/apartment 2) Stylistic synonyms-synonyms differing in style, e.g. kid, child, offspring; start, begin, commence; gentleman/guy3) Synonyms that d

24、iffer in their emotive or evaluative meaning, e.g.collaborator- accomplice, attract/seduce4) Collocational synonyms, e.g. accuseof, chargewith, rebukefor; 5) Semantically different synonyms, e.g. amaze, astound,u Synonyms are frequently used in speaking and writing as a cohesive device. In order to

25、avoid repetition the writer/speaker needs to use a synonym to replace a word in the previous co-text when he/she wants to continue to address that idea. The synonyms together function to create cohesion of the text.Antonymyu Antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning.n Gradable antonyms-there

26、are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, n Complementary antonyms-the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, n Relational/ Reversal opposites-exhibits the reversal of the relation

27、ship between the two items, e.g. husband-wife, father-son, doctor-patient, buy-sell, let-rent, employer-employee, give-receive, above-below, Gradable antonymsn Gradable antonyms -there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, Complementary

28、 antonymsn Complementary antonyms -the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, n Antonymy is frequently utilized as a rhetorical resource in language use. Oxymoron and antithesis based on antonymy. Gradable antonyms may give rise to fuzzines

29、s.Polysemyn Polysemy-the same one word may have more than one meaning, e.g. “table” may mean:n A piece of furnituren All the people seated at a tablen The food that is put on a tablen A thin flat piece of stone, metal wood, etc.n Orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc. Homonymyn Homonymy- the ph

30、enomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, e.g. different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.n Homophone - when two words are identical in sound, e.g. rain-reign, night/knight, n Homogragh - when two words are identical in spelling, e.g. tear(n.)-tear(v.), le

31、ad(n.)-lead(v.), n Complete/full homonym- when two words are identical in both sound and spelling, e.g. ball, bank, watch, scale, fast, n Note: Rhetorically, homonyms are often used as puns.n A polysemic word is the result of the evolution of the primary meaning of the word (the etymology of the wor

32、d); while complete homonyms are often brought into being by coincidence. Hyponymyn Hyponymy-the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word.n Superordinate: the word which is more general in meaning.n Hyponyms: the word which is more specific in meaning.n Co-h

33、yponyms: hyponyms of the same superordinate.Hyponymyn Superordinate: flowern Hyponyms: rose, tulip, lily, chrysanthemum, peony, narcissus, n Superordinate: furnituren Hyponyms: bed, table, desk, dresser, wardrobe, sofa, n This kind of vertical semantic relation links words in a hierarchical work.Sen

34、se relations between sentences n (1) X is synonymous with Yn (2) X is inconsistent with Yn (3) X entails Yn (4) X presupposes Yn (5) X is a contradictionn (6) X is semantically anomalousX is synonymous with Yn X: He was a bachelor all his life. Y: He never got married all his life.n X: The boy kille

35、d the cat. Y: The cat was killed by the boy.n If X is true, Y is true; if X is false, Y is false.X is inconsistent with Yn X: He is single.n Y: He has a wife.n X: This is my first visit to Beijing.n Y: I have been to Beijing twice.n If X is true, Y is false; if X is false, Y is true.X entails Yn X:

36、John married a blond heiress.n Y: John married a blond.n X: Marry has been to Beijing. n Y: Marry has been to China.n Entailment is a relation of inclusion. If X entails Y, then the meaning of X is included in Y.n If X is true, Y is necessarily true; if X is false, Y may be true or false.X presuppos

37、es Yn X: His bike needs repairing.n Y: He has a bike.n Paul has given up smoking.n Paul once smoked.n If X is true, Y must be true; If X is false, Y is still true.X is a contradictionn *My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor.n *The orphans parents are pretty well-off.X is semantically anomalou

38、sn *The man is pregnant.n *The table has bad intentions.n *Sincerity shakes hands with the black apple.n Analysis of meaning :n Componential analysis n Predication analysis nComponential analysisn Componential analysis- a way to analyze lexical meaning. The approach is based on the belief that the m

39、eaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features. For example,n Man: +HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALEn Boy: +HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALEn Woman: +HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALEn Girl: +HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALEn Father: +HUMAN +MALE +ADULT PARENTn Daughter:

40、+HUMAN MALE 0ADULT PARENTPredication analysisn 1)The meaning of a sentence is not to be worked out by adding up all the meanings of its component words, e.g “The dog bites the man” is semantically different from “The man bites the dog” though their components are exactly the same.n 2)There are two a

41、spects to sentence meaning: grammatical meaning and semantic meaning, e.g.n *Green clouds are sleeping furiously.n *Sincerity shook hands with the black apple.n Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called selectional restrictions. n Predication analysis- a way to analyz

42、e sentence meaning (British G. Leech).n Predication-the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence. A predication consists of argument(s) and predicate.n An argument is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal elements in a sentence.n A predicate is something said abo

43、ut an argument or it states the logical relation linking the arguments in a sentence. n According to the number of arguments contained in a predication, we may classify the predications into the following types:n One-place predication: smoke, grow, rise, run, n Two-place predication: like, love, sav

44、e, bite, beat, n Three-place predication: give, sent, promise, call, n No-place predication: It is hot.Predication analysisn Tom smokes. TOM (SMOKE)n The tree grows well. TREE (GROW)n The kids like apples. KIDS (LIKE) APPLE n I sent him a letter. I (SEND) HIM LETTERSupplementary Exercises to Chapter

45、 5 Semantics I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False: 1. Dialectal synonyms can often be found in different regional dialects such as British English and American English but cannot be found within the variety itself, for example, within British English or American Englis

46、h. 2. Sense is concerned with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience, while the reference deals with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. 3. Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations. 4. In

47、 semantics, meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and inherent relation to the physical world of experience. 5. Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts. 6. Behaviourists attempted to define the meaning of a lang

48、uage form as the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer. 7. The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all its components. 8. Most languages have sets of lexical items similar in meaning but ranked differently according to their degr

49、ee of formality. 9. “it is hot.” is a no-place predication because it contains no argument. 10. In grammatical analysis, the sentence is taken to be the basic unit, but in semantic analysis of a sentence, the basic unit is predication, which is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence. II. Fill

50、in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given: 11. S_ can be defined as the study of meaning. 12. The conceptualist view holds that there is no d_ link between a linguistic form and what it refers to. 13. R_ means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physi

51、cal world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. 14. Words that are close in meaning are called s_. 15. When two words are identical in sound, but different in spelling and meaning, they are called h_. 16.R_ opposites are pairs of w

52、ords that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items. 17. C _ analysis is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into meaning components. 18. Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called s_ restrictions, which are constraints on

53、 what lexical items can go with what others. 19. An a_ is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal element(s) in a sentence. 20. According to the n _ theory of meaning, the words in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for. III. There are four

54、 choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement: 21. The naming theory is advanced by _. A. Plato B. Bloomfield C. Geoffrey Leech D. Firth22. “We shall know a word by the company it keeps.” This statement represents _. A. the conceptualist view B. contexutalis

55、m C. the naming theory D.behaviourism 23. Which of the following is not true? A. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. B. Sense is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form. C. Sense is abstract and de-contextualized. D. Sense is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are not interested in. 24. “Can I borrow your bike?” _ “ You have a bike.” A. is synon